The Dishwasher Perspective

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Luke 10:1–2 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”

What it is speaking to me:

Have you ever worked a job—or had a task at work—that felt completely overwhelming? One of those situations where there’s so much to do, not enough time, and you can’t see how you’ll ever finish?

My first job was as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. I’ll never forget one Saturday when we were absolutely slammed. On top of the regular rush, there was a private party on the second floor, and all of their dishes came down at once, right at the end of the night. While the cooks were cleaning up the kitchen and heading home, I was buried under mountains of plates, cutlery, and glasses. Instead of clocking out around 11, it looked like I’d be there until morning.

There are two ways to read these verses. One way is from the “overwhelmed” perspective—the David-the-dishwasher way. The work of making disciples can feel endless. It seems like everyone needs Jesus, and there’s so much to do that it’s hard to know where to start.

But there’s another way to look at it. The harvest being plentiful means there are countless opportunities to bring Jesus to the people around you. If one person doesn’t respond to your invitation—no sweat! There are literally a million other people around you that may. Maybe you’ve seen twenty rejections in the past two weeks—but that just means the next one might be a “yes.” Someone soon is going to say YES, because the harvest is PLENTIFUL. There is someone there, someone around you, who IS going to respond to the gospel.

All we need are people who are willing to get in the field.

What is it saying to you?

How do you see the harvest?

How do you approach it?

Do you find it intimidating…or exciting?

What are we going to do about it?

Identify one person you can serve, listen to, or speak truth to today. The harvest is still plentiful. Eventually one day, one person is going to say “yes” to Jesus. And that’s exciting.